BC MAY FLOWERS RECAP On May 3rd-4th, 144 IST athletes and coaches traveled to the King County Aquatic Center for the 2024 BC May Flowers Meet. Athletes headed into the weekend eager for their first long course competition of the year and a return to meets after our Spring Championship season wrapped up in March. This meet was a chance for athletes to reacclimate to the long course environment and develop a feel for the differences between short course and long course racing. Emphasis was placed on starts, turns as...

2024 MARIN MORRISON MEMORIAL RECAP On April 28, 20 IST athletes and coaches traveled to the Lindbergh High School Pool for the 2024 Marin Morrison Memorial meet. This meet was established to memorialize former US Paralympian Marin Morrison. Marin lived in Washington and attended the 2008 Paralympic games. IST is happy to honor the memory of Marin and is grateful for the opportunity to participate in this meet. For our athletes attending, this will be their first competition of the Long Course season. Athletes focused on re-familiarizing themselves with meet...

2024 NW Sectionals Recap On March 14-17th, 30 IST athletes and Coaches traveled to King County Aquatic Center for the 2024 NW Sectionals Championship. Sectionals represents the culmination of our Short Course Season. Athletes have spent months preparing in practice, refining race strategies at meets, and sharpening for this championship meet experience. As this was a championship meet, the top 32 athletes in each event returned for Finals. IST athletes achieved 16 individual Finals swims throughout the weekend! A list of each athletes’ Finals swim can be found in the...

2023 VANDAL INVITATIONAL On December 1st-3rd, 32 IST Athletes and Coaches traveled to the University of Idaho Aquatic Center for the 2023 Vandal Invitational. This was the third year that IST has traveled to Moscow, Idaho for this competition and it was a success once again! Both the men and the women placed first in the meet with a combined 4,523 points! This meet also presents a unique opportunity to experience a travel competition. Athletes have to plan ahead for the meet in their packing and preparation, then adapt to...

2023 FALL DIVISIONALS On December 2nd-3rd, 171 IST athletes and Coaches traveled to King County Aquatic Center for the 2023 Fall Divisionals Championship. As this was a championship meet, the focus for each athlete was to head into the weekend feeling loose, relaxed, and confident. The only goal for each and every swim was to have fun. No worrying about cut times, no anxiety about a stroke correction, no tears or frustration because of a bad start or missed turn. No matter what the outcome of each race, the goal...

2023 NOVEMBER AGI RECAP On November 18-19th, 109 IST athletes and Coaches traveled to Curtis Aquatic Center for the 2023 November Age Group Invite. The November AGI represented the first meet that required swimmers to possess a certain time standard in order to participate. In this instance, swimmers must have achieved at least a PNS Gold Time in one event in order to enter the meet. Entry strategies and meet goals for this competition varied widely depending on the training group and individual. For some swimmers, entries will be limited...

CHARLES LEE COMMITS TO PURDUE UNIVERSITY Charles Lee, a member of the Nationals training group, two time Swimmer of the Year Award winner, and Junior Nationals qualifier has committed to attend Purdue University in the Fall of 2024. Charles began his time with IST in August of 2018. In the time since, Charles has competed and excelled at a multitude of meets including LSC Championships, Age Group Regionals, Sectionals, Futures, and most recently at Junior Nationals. In addition to his competitive prowess in the United States, Charles has also represented...

2023 FALL TIME TRIAL AND DISTANCE MEET RECAP On November 12th, 228 IST athletes traveled to Snohomish Aquatic Center for the 2023 Fall Time Trial and Distance Meet. The Fall Time Trial served as another opportunity for our Surge, Sockeye, and Senior athletes aged 14&u to compete in core events (25s, 50s, or 100s of the strokes). It also represented the first of two meet opportunities for our Steelhead swimmers. Surge, Sockeye, and Senior swimmers used the weekend to practice race strategies and clean up race details while Steelhead swimmers...

2023 CHINOOK PENTATHLON RECAP On November 5th, 114 IST athletes traveled to Mary Wayte Aquatic Center for the 2023 Chinook Pentathlon. Pentathlon-style meets serve as a great opportunity for IST swimmers to demonstrate their comfort, familiarity, and expertise in the four competitive strokes. Typically, pentathlon meets will have athletes swim in one event from each stroke discipline plus an individual medley. Pentathlon awards usually reflect the cumulative quality of those five races as measured by PowerPoints or time. A meet format rewarding well-rounded athletes serves IST well as it reflects...

2023 IST FALL OPEN RECAP On October 21st-22nd, 262 IST athletes and Coaches traveled to Snohomish Aquatic Center for the 2023 IST Fall Open. For most attending, this was their second competition of the season. After swimming short distance sprint events at Sockeye Sprints, everyone swam a wider selection of events while expanding on race strategy skills. At this point in the season athletes are familiar with their coaches, continuing to learn the training curriculum and vocabulary, and working toward their full training capacity for the season. As athletes started...